We rolled out of Perth to start our adventure and exploration around 9 am just for a bit of leftover Perth “rush hour”. We are taking the more direct inland route as we will be returning back up the west coast along the Indian Ocean.
The drive to our first stop took us through many rolling hills, forests, herds of merino sheep, spectacular yellow fields of canola and many small towns and wineries. There are so many wineries tempting us, but we resist. We will be staying in the Margaret River wine region so we do need to pace ourselves! It’s all about the pacing.
As we drove through the vastness with not many places to stop, we decided to take a break for coffee and restroom break a couple of hours outside of Perth. The stop on the sign says Beaufort Cafe but looking closer it is called the Creepy Hollow Cafe… where it is always Halloween. We just happen to be there a few weeks before Halloween. The place has one of the largest collections of ghostly material I think I have ever seen! It is just out of Kojonup on the Albany Highway and a good stop for a coffee and pastry.
We arrived in Albany on the southwest coast early in the afternoon and settled into our cabin for three nights. The town is on the Southern Ocean and oldest permanently settled town in Western Australia. It is larger by Western Australia standards with a population over 30,000. We dined at Three Anchors on Middleton Bay, that included yummy Australian calamari, grilled shark, a good cut of steak and some Western Australia Pinot Noir and Shiraz.
After a good night sleep and breakfast at home, we drove out to the Stirling Ranges to do the Bluff Knoll hike. Bluff Knoll, at just over 1000 meters is the second highest point in Western Australia. It looked daunting as we started the hike, wondering if it was possible. We made it! Pretty much straight up and straight down for about four hours. The views of the Stirling Ranges, vast plains and Southern Ocean in the distance were absolutely worth it…though it was a bit hard on the old knees.
The wildflowers were blooming as well. The colors were fantastic! We had just experienced the tail end of peak blooms up north toward Exmouth and the flowers here seemed to be peaking, since it is just a bit cooler in this area. Many of the wildflowers are unique to Australia and even Western Australia.
On our second full day we explored the beautiful coast around Albany including Torndirrup National Park. Australia’s coastlines continue to amaze us! The area and its voluminous granite formations was formed when the Antarctic and Australian plates collided millions of years ago. The sheer drop at “the Gap”, the Natural Bridge, Bald Head on the Flinders peninsula, other huge granite cliffs, and pure white sand beaches are stunning!
We had an excellent dinner that evening at Six Degrees which included Emerald Snapper and three tapas that were awesome: Prawns & Guacamole, Bourbon Glazed Pork Belly Chunks and the Anticucho-de-Pollo. It was all washed down by a couple of glasses of red wine from the Southwest Western Australia area.
After dinner we stopped by the pub next-door, the White Star Hotel. It is actually now a brewery, restaurant and music venue. It was open mic and we heard a couple of good young musicians. A few were doing some improv music…pretty cool stuff.
Albany is steeped in aboriginal history and is also regarded as the birthplace of Australia’s ANZAC story. The next morning before leaving we spent a couple of hours at the impressive ANZAC Center. Albany was the port where over 41,000 Australians and New Zealanders left in 1914 for the Great War, so many not to return. The museum follows their stories to the Middle East, Gallipoli and the Western Front. We have learned so much about the sacrifices the Aussies and Kiwis made during WWI during our travels in New Zealand and Australia.
After that emotionally tough visit, we headed out to Denmark, a town along the scenic southern coast. The day became mostly cloudy and we dodged the raindrops. Just past Denmark we stopped at Elephant Rocks, Waterfall Beach and Greens Pool in Williams Bay National Park…absolutely beautiful areas. Again a virtually unpopulated area with the utmost beauty.
Our next stop down the road we headed to the Valley of the Giant Trees in the Walpole-Nornalup National Park for the spectacular Tree Top Walk and Ancient Empire Walk. The giant “red tingle” trees in the area, giant eucalypts, are found nowhere else on Earth and have been standing for more than 400 years.
Our drive continued through multiple national forests thick with more towering eucalyptus trees for miles and miles as we came to the small town of Manjimup, our base for two nights.
We stayed at the Kingsley Motel. An old style “motel” that has an excellent restaurant. The area is known for wine, olives and truffles. We enjoyed a meal of truffle risotto, lamb shank, grilled barramundi and a local Shiraz.
Our second day in the Albany area was a rainy one, but with occasional sunshine. It was an excellent day to spend time, rather an afternoon, at a winery and we found an excellent one! The Silkwood Winery in Pemberton has excellent wines of which we sampled most! We also had an excellent lunch, trying a variety of olives, fresh baked bread, local scallops and roasted duck breast with mashed pumpkin, roasted Brussel sprouts and baked pears.
Our tour for the next day included drives through this areas many orchards (e.g. Apple, Pear, Avocado), vineyards, and beautiful karri forest. We stopped in the rain at a “climbing tree“. There are six of these in the areas that were used as fire lookouts mainly in the 1930s and 1940s in these Karri tree forests. The Karri trees are among the tallest trees in the world and only found in Australia. You can still climb these but I declined as it was rainy and the climbing apparatus that wraps around the enormous towering trees were metal and slick…also because of my fear of heights!
The next morning our destination is even deeper into more wine country…Margaret River! The area arguably produces some of Australia’s best wines, due part to the Southern Ocean breezes and Mediterranean climate. Along the way we made a stop for an ocean front lunch in Augusta. This is where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet and the lighthouse marks the furthest southern point in Western Australia.
We made it to Margaret River and settled into our home for the next few nights. Later in the afternoon we enjoyed some live music at Settlers Tavern. We were fortunate to hear a young lady play, Toby Beard from Perth. She performs around the world, a mix of blues, soul, rock, folk, reggae…sweet!
With all of the Margaret River wine, over 200 vineyards and nearly 200 wineries, one could spend a couple of weeks! We met a couple on our prior week’s Western Australia road trip that had intended to only spend two nights at Margaret River and ended up spending two weeks! And, of course, they sent several cases of wine back to their home on Australia’s east coast. We were able to visit a couple of wineries, including Knee Deep Wines and Vasse Felix. We loved the wines at Knee Deep and had a terrific time visiting with an Aussie, Monalisa. She had lived in the LA for 23 years and gave up that hectic pace to move to the area and share her wine expertise. Vasse Felix was the first vineyard and winery to be established in the region in 1967.
The Margaret River area is beautiful with the vineyards and wineries, but is also known for its world class waves and surfing. We visited Surfers Beach and watched the waves rock the beach! The area is thought to have had the largest wave ridden in Australia at 60 – 70 feet! Picture borrowed insert link
We also did a bit of hiking along the Margaret River with some beautiful views of wildflowers, gum trees and birds. There is so much to do in this area and it deserves more time.
Our SW Australia road trip continues back up the coast to Perth with a stop at Dunsborough and a short hike along the coast. Yes, another beautiful area at Meelup National park, a rocky coastline with another view of migrating whales and great beaches. The area was not very busy. We did meet a local that warned us of some snakes in the area, but gladly we saw none.
We worked our way back up the coast with a stop just outside of Perth in Fremantle. Fremantle has some beautiful historic areas and Victorian architecture. It is also known for its shipping port and maritime history. The area originally had aboriginal owners and was later established as a convict settlement. We made a brief stop to walk in the historic areas and beach. Fremantle is just outside of Perth and will be worthy of another visit during our stay in Perth!
And a few more pics from this journey…